I78 hotel for Cape Liberty

[bunzini]

Looking to stay about an hour away for the port.  We will be traveling from Ohio and would like to find a spot along highway 78.  Any suggestions of towns that might be about an hour or so away.  Family of four looking for a less expensive hotel than those close to the port.

[138east]

6 hours ago, bunzini said:

Looking to stay about an hour away for the port.  We will be traveling from Ohio and would like to find a spot along highway 78.  Any suggestions of towns that might be about an hour or so away.  Family of four looking for a less expensive hotel than those close to the port.

What exact date would you need a hotel?  Target Budget?  Bed size requirements for 4 people?

[bunzini]

March 22, 2019

Four people (two adults, two kids 7and 4)

[bowler15547]

I recommend Allentown, PA. Stay there any time I sail on Anthem. About a 90ish minute drive in the morning. I am a HH member for work travel so I stay at the Hilton Garden Inn Allentown West.

[138east]

Your plan is good.  Pull up a map of I78 and look in the Lebanon area to be about an hour out.  This is a more suburban area, so the major chain hotels will be nicer than the Newark airport hotels.  

[BobInPa]

I live about 25 miles NW of Philly, my parents lived in Allentown, my wife's parents lived in Lebanon. Don't even consider Lebanon  and Allentown isn't much better for convenience.  We live less than 90 minutes from the port but we are cruising in less than 2 weeks, snow season. So we are staying at the Double Tree at Newark and are paying $137 our pre cruise night which includes up to 2 weeks parking.  The port is $20 a day.

[138east]

5 hours ago, BobInPa said:

I live about 25 miles NW of Philly, my parents lived in Allentown, my wife's parents lived in Lebanon. Don't even consider Lebanon  and Allentown isn't much better for convenience.  We live less than 90 minutes from the port but we are cruising in less than 2 weeks, snow season. So we are staying at the Double Tree at Newark and are paying $137 our pre cruise night which includes up to 2 weeks parking.  The port is $20 a day.

Apparently the OP lives in the Toledo area which is a long drive with 2 small children.  I can understand why they might want to get off the road before getting involved in the congestion of the NY/NJ metro area on a Friday night.  They may want to pay to park at the port so they can just get in their car and hit the road when they disembark.

 

If the OP is coming in I80, then the Parsipanny area could be another option.  There is a pool of nice suburban hotels in that area that cater to business travel and offer reduced rates on a weekend night.  Base rates in the $75-125 range can be found for a “good” to “excellent” hotel on Mar 22.  Travel to Cape Liberty on a Saturday morning would be about an hour with much less traffic congestion.

[BobInPa]

We had really good friends that lived on Lake Parsippany so I have been in that area a bunch of times, it won’t help either.  When heading toward NYC from the west the only good time is before noon on Sunday. My wife and her sister sailed to Bermuda in May on a Sunday, it was a great drive even on I95.  But Sunday morning isn’t an option here. There will be tons of traffic in the Newark area almost any other time.  I would rather get stuck in traffic knowing that I may get to my hotel later than I planned than having to worry about missing my cruise.  I’m slightly concerned about my 7 mile Uber ride because the I78 bridge is involved.  There was a major accident on the I78 bridge right after I drove over it in May, closing most lanes.   If I get aboard by 10:30 I can get breakfast on the ship.